


Continental Cheese

by aheadfulloffollies



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: F/M, be gay do crimes kids, cinder is an icon, cinder is cheese god, cinder the cheese god, coffee shop AU, idek how to tag this, kaider coffee shop au, tribute to cinder the cheese god, uhhhh kaider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:47:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28177863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aheadfulloffollies/pseuds/aheadfulloffollies
Summary: Kai comes to the local shop Continental Coffee to get his tablet fixed via Cinder's under-the-table mechanics business. Previously posted in my TLC Oneshots Book (now deleted, rest in peace).
Relationships: Kai/Linh Cinder
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Continental Cheese

Since Cinder was subjected to working at her stepmother's café, she had long since decided that she'd at least try and make it interesting.

Three years ago, she started her side mechanical business. Through means of Peony's and Iko's social media and word of mouth, it had been born. If a customer asked for a cheese croissant, they had a small device- a phone or tablet- that needed basic fixing. A cheese soufflé meant a larger problem involving a phone or tablet. One cheese bagel meant a basic laptop problem, and half a dozen meant a complicated one, and so on. Everything involved cheese because Adri thought it was too unhealthy to serve in her café, and Cinder thought it was delicious.

Somehow, despite all of the orders Cinder continued to type in as cheese-related, Adri still hadn't noticed that this was not just an extremely large group of people constantly insisting that there were cheese-related items on the menu and was in fact her stepdaughter running an undercover mechanic business. Honestly, Cinder was convinced that she was turning a blind eye to it due to the amount of money they got from these "delusional cheese fanatics".

Unfortunately, all the funds that Cinder rightfully owned from the secret mechanics inside the innocent glass doors of Continental Coffee went to Adri- it would be too suspicious otherwise. But it was the thrill of doing something that actually interested her that attracted Cinder in the first place.

"Continental Coffee," Cinder mused to herself as she rested forward. It was a quiet hour for the café, and as the cashier, she didn't have much to do at the moment. Had Adri been working, she was sure that some ostentatious task would have been given to her purely since she wasn't occupied at the moment, but Adri was never working.

"I wondered about the name too," a sudden male voice said, and Cinder practically jumped out of her skin.

She adjusted her apron as she straightened up, looking up to meet the customer's eyes. She frowned, certain she recognized him from somewhere... yes, he was definitely familiar. From where, she didn't know.

"Adri named it for the fact that apparently everyone in the continent should eat overpriced health-guru ridiculousness that she manages to sell off by poorly disguising it as coffee and muffins." She rested her hands on the register, unable to ignore the way his eyes trailed her metal hand. "Car accident" was her only explanation, but the boy nodded as if this made total sense.

"I... I'm here for a Linh Cinder?"

Cinder raised an eyebrow, still not typing an order into the register. "I'm afraid we don't sell any Linh Cinders here, sir. You'll have to go across the street for that." It said something that he hadn't yet noticed her name tag, labeling her as the Linh Cinder he was looking for.

The boy laughed, and at the sight of any form of smile rather than the awkward expression he had been wearing previously, Cinder's recognition clicked.

"Y-your highness," she said, starting to clumsily bow. The boy- Prince Kaito- held up a hand, stopping her.

"Sorry," he said, eyes darting around the almost empty room nervously. "I'm trying to keep on the down-low. As much as I can, I mean." He raised a hand upward in a motion to run it through his hair, then seemed to remember that he was wearing a hoodie with the hood up and let his hand rest on the counter in between them instead.

"Right." Cinder nodded, barely refraining herself from mentioning that she doubted someone like Prince Kaito could ever blend in.

"Oh, and please call me Kai." He flashed her a practiced smile, one that Cinder had seen on magazine covers and as the background of Peony's or Iko's devices all too often.

"Sure," she said, having no intention whatsoever of calling him that. She returned her attention to the register, hands hovering above it expectantly. "What'll you be having today?"

"I have a tablet," he said, taking the device out of the backpack slung casually over one shoulder.

"Clearly," Cinder deadpanned. "What's the problem?"

"She-" Cinder raised an eyebrow and he blushed, but didn't retract it. "She won't open."

"Can't get past the open page, or won't start?" she asked, typing cheese croissant into the register and sending off the "order". She took the tablet, turning it over in her hands slowly.

"You're Linh Cinder?" His eyes widened slightly as she took ahold of the device, clearly surprised.

She motioned to her name tag in response.

"I- right," he said, his cheeks slightly flushed. He rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously and nodded toward the tablet. "Won't get past the open page."

Cinder nodded, then slammed the tablet against the counter with surprising force. Kai started, and she smiled slightly. "It works more often than you'd think." She turned the tablet on and tried to swipe to open it. A code screen popped up, and she tilted it toward Kai with a raised eyebrow.

He gaped. "I- uh, yeah. That... that should work." He hastily typed in a code and watched in surprise as it opened to a web page. "Thank you."

"No problem."

"So, how much is-?"

Cinder cut him off hastily. "Oh, no." She held up her hands in protest. "No payment from royalty."

Kai shook his head. "No, I insist."

Cinder hesitated. She wanted to protest, but the look on Kai's face said that she would get nowhere. "Half price," she bargained. She suspected it was the best deal he would accept.

"Three fourths," he said.

"Half."

"Full?"

"That is _not_ how bargaining works," Cinder said, holding in a laugh.

Kai smirked. "Had to give it a try, at least. Three fourths?"

She hesitated once more, than nodded. "Fine. Eight dollars, please."

He blinked in surprise at the high price, but nodded and handed her eight dollars in cash, which Cinder quickly entered into the register. When she looked up, she expected him to be gone, but he was still there, standing awkwardly.

She frowned. "Can I help you?"

"I... uh. Have you had your break yet?"

Cinder's brow furrowed. She got a short, fifteen minute break every day for lunch and another at the insistence of Peony. They could be combined if need be, and although Cinder readily took them, she didn't know why Kai would be asking.

"No."

"Oh! Would you..." he trailed off, looking away as he rubbed the back of his neck once more. It seemed to be his substitute from running his hands through his hair, Cinder noticed. "Would you like to go to lunch to me?"

She stared at him for a moment, then leaned to the side to see if there was anyone behind him. Alas, the café didn't pick up until about noon, and it was only eleven thirty at the moment. "Um. I'm sure you have lots of..." She waved her hand in the air. "Royal obligations and things to attend to, and I wouldn't want to keep you." She hoped that he didn't quite pick up on her sarcasm.

"No, no. No royal obligations or anything."

_Crap._

"Well. I-"

"Cinder!" Iko interrupted her, and Cinder turned, relief painting her features. Iko, one of the few people Adri had been able to hire, was Cinder's best friend. She must have entered through the back door. "I got the white flour you wanted. It cost less than the rye I was supposed to get, so I'll just tell Adri there was a sale. She never comes here anyway except to criticize you, so it shouldn't-" With a start, Iko noticed Kai, still standing awkwardly at the counter.

"Your highness!" she croaked, already starting to bow.

"No, please don't," he said, the awkward look returning. "I'm trying to stay on the down-low."

His attention on Iko, who was nodding her head profusely, Cinder took the opportunity to roll her eyes. If she, of all people, had been able to recognize Kai, he was doomed.

Her eyes caught Iko's, who, through her nodding, was inconspicuously motioning to a spot on Cinder's forehead. She lifted her hand to the spot and felt a smear of flour there, leftover from the gluten, dairy, and sugar free muffins she'd been forced to make that morning. Oh, well. Kai would've already seen it by now, and it wasn't as if she cared anyway.

"So, like I was saying," Cinder said as Kai returned his attention to her, "I have work to do." She motioned to Iko, as if her coworker arriving suddenly made more work to be done.

Kai furrowed his brow and, after a moment, nodded. Iko was looking between the two rapidly, her eyes wide. Cinder decided to ignore her. "Well, at least I asked." He flashed her another award-winning smile. "It was nice to meet you, Cinder. And..." he looked toward Iko, trailing off as he realized they hadn't been introduced.

"Iko!" she said, moving forward and extending her hand. They shook, and Cinder barely stifled her laugh.

"Iko." He nodded once again to each of them, and, with a final look, was out the door.

The minute he left, Cinder groaned and rested forward onto the counter again.

" _Cinder_!" Iko said, clearly not going to let this go. "What did he ask you?"

"To lunch," she mumbled, unwilling to remove her face from her hands.

Iko looked like she was barely holding in a scream. "Even with the flour spot!?"

"No, he requested I go to the washroom and remove it," she said flatly. "Of course with the spot."

Iko swooned, hands on her heart. "Oh my stars, Cinder! That's so romantic..." her voice trailed off, a horrified look taking the place of her previously excited one. "Wait. You-"

"No, I didn't say yes," Cinder interrupted, finally taking her head out of her hands. "He's the _prince_ , Iko. I'm just a Continental Coffee employee who runs an illegal mechanic business on the side under the poor cover of cheese-related baked goods." She gestured around her, to the almost empty coffee shop, small tool box stored under the counter, and particularly unhealthy stash of cheese flavoured snacks stored away further beneath the tool box.

" _Cinder_."

"Iko," she said tiredly.

"I cannot _believe_ you right now," she exclaimed incredulously. "I would've said yes in a heartbeat."

"Yeah, well." Cinder shrugged and straightened as another customer, this one indubitably _not_ the prince of the Commonwealth, entered the café. "I'm not you, Iko. I don't dream about impossible things."


End file.
